The grain tower on the water
The Korenstapelhuis is a medieval grain storehouse — a "spijker" — built in the 12th century, when controlling grain meant controlling the city. Cereal came along the Lys and was stored here until 1734. It's been a protected monument since 1943, a squat tower of bare stone that once held the thing everyone needed most. Food policy, medieval edition, kept under one heavy roof on the quay.